Being Human in the 21st Century

A Symposium, April 26-29, celebrating fifty years of Camphill in North America

We chatted by email recently with Coleman Lyles, Executive Director of Camphill California, about the symposium.

bh: We’re just taking up the name “being human” for this publication, and Camphill is celebrating fifty years in North America with a symposium, “Being Human in the 21st Century: Toward New Thinking.” How is Camphill concerned with this question of “being human”?

CL: Anthroposophy translates literally as “wisdom of the human being.” Rudolf Steiner’s choice of this word to describe a modern form of spiritual science is significant. It is a key for understanding the cardinal challenge of our age and the central role that humanity and being human play in meeting that challenge. This knowledge, this wisdom of the human being and deeds based on it are critical for the further evolution of humanity and the earth. As an anthroposophical organization, founded on anthroposophical principles and knowledge, Camphill is very aware of the part ‘being human’ plays now and into the future. It understands that being human in the truest sense of the word involves a body–soul–spirit dynamic that carries the individual beyond a merely materialistic world view to one dominated by great expectations and insights into human potential; and, that with these insights and expectations comes greater responsibility.

bh: Years ago Sting had a song, “How Fragile We Are.” When we have special needs and challenges in life, it’s hard to escape that. Yet your prospectus speaks not only of “vulnerable people” but of the “endangered earth” and the “contemporary social fabric.” How does the Camphill movement see us generating strength for these challenges?

CL: The human being presents a paradox. Yes, fragile and vulnerable on one side but capable of development and evolution on the other. We are not entirely at the mercy of our fate but we are also capable of shaping our fate both individually and collectively. This potential for freedom and initiative lives in all of us regardless of our status, socially, racially, cognitively, or otherwise. Recognizing that the human being is essentially a spiritual being and acting accordingly generates enormous strength for facing the social and environmental challenges that beset humanity today. This recognition is fundamental to Camphill’s mission and the social/community/organizational forms that it has adopted.

bh: 2011 brings the 150th anniversary of the birth of Rudolf Steiner, a man whose vision and activity seem almost too large to grasp. How did Steiner contribute to the Camphill initiative, to the question of “being human”?

CL: Camphill, as an intentional community devoted to working with developmentally disabled human beings out of new knowledge and insight into human nature, is a direct response to Rudolf Steiner’s challenge to apply spiritual science in practical daily life. There is hardly a single aspect of Camphill’s endeavor from its therapeutic, medical, pedagogical, social approach to developmental disabilities to its community and organizational forms that doesn’t owe something to Rudolf Steiner. Steiner’s hopes and aspirations for anthroposophy culminated in the re-founding of the Anthroposophical Society at Christmas 1923/24. The Christmas Foundation Stone Meditation conceived as the spiritual foundation for the new society begins with the words “Soul of the Human Being.” It is a call to the human soul to awaken to its true nature, potential and responsibility and form community accordingly. The re-founding of the society and everything that transpired at that Christmas conference was a spiritual deed whose magnitude and significance we will only be able to appreciate in times to come. For Dr. Karl Koenig, the founder of Camphill, and the early pioneers who joined him, this call was probably the single most important factor for Camphill’s inception and further development.